Placing the power to set the rates of interest & unemployment in the hands of an independent body whose regional branches are run by bankers and whose top job is held by exceptionally conservative and Wall Street-friendly technocrats has been a 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘺 in the United States. 1/2

How not to talk about capitalism The more it penetrates our daily lives, the less we seem to understand the “system that runs the world” By Dominik Leusder

This is a very interesting piece, both in terms of its analysis of the Truss government and its implications for how we think about the politics of depoliticisation today.

Good read from @willdunn.bsky.social in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, especially this on trader views of the (lack of) credibility of the Labour gvm’t: ‘there is no plan, there is no vision, and they’re not going to succeed because they don’t have the talent’ But two things are missing🧵

Pleased to post this new Dig ep w/ my partner in all things @triofrancos.bsky.social on her beautiful book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. We go from Chile to Nevada, from dawn of colonialism to geoeconomic conflict between the US and China—and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/extr...

📝 Don't miss this article from the current issue of #BJPIR 'Reframing centre-left neoliberalism: New Keynesian theory, Third Way ideology, and the construction of an elite consensus in the US, Britain, and Australia' by Brent Toye & @dillonwamsley.bsky.social 🔗 buff.ly/62G4GAB

New piece about MAGA's Fed strategy: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

My new article on everyone’s favourite PM, Liz Truss, is out in New Political Economy 🧵

BoE rolls out new defence of QE-QT, stressing low costs for long-maturity debt in QE decade. But it's drawing arbitrary boundaries: analysis (APF Q3 Rept) fails to note that BoE conditioned QE on HMT accepting gilt issue limits, part of causal chain to catastrophic austerity. on.ft.com/3JY23EM

Labour government preparing to hike income taxes - blaming bond markets. not one adult in the room will say the obvious: 1. Britain's fiscal rules are shambles 2. Bank of England has too much power over fiscal decisions 3. ignore bond vigilantes www.ft.com/content/5c8f...

“There are entire ruling class industries on the market side…and committees and subcommittees and consultants on the government side, working hand in hand that take in billions of public dollars to make that opaque… regime of credit allocation function.” thebaffler.com/latest/payin...

New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...

Does China's party-state capitalist model mean it can fully decarbonise its economy? Our exec producer Chris Saltmarsh joins Remi to discuss his @ripejournal.bsky.social article on the development of the Chinese political economy and implications for tackling the climate crisis 🎧 shorturl.at/xUwW5

The Rhodes Center Podcast is back. Me and Leah Downey on her wonderful book Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters. This is part one of two. In part two we discuss what happens when democracy starts to get the upper hand. Coming soon: player.captivate.fm/episode/eb5e...

“What is more, one wonders why something as crucial as borrowing costs to the lives of every citizen should sit beyond a country’s democratic process.” www.ft.com/content/a667...

My newest piece for Jacobin traces the ideological inheritances of Danielle Smith. jacobin.com/2025/08/albe... @johncke.bsky.social @charlieangus104.bsky.social @dgrdon.bsky.social @nolore.bsky.social @youcaughtscott.com @desmondcole.bsky.social @temcd.bsky.social @dillonwamsley.bsky.social

Historically low levels of inflation and a defeated labor movement made the era of central bank independence possible. But the 2008 crash repoliticized the institution. Donald Trump’s attack on Lisa Cook is a backlash that has been brewing ever since.

🏠 Why is the housing market so broken? Professor Johnna Montgomerie joins Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley to explore how housing became a source of debt instead of security, and what it would take to change it. 🔊 Listen: player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/housi... #HousingCrisis

Why does austerity keep coming back? In Crisis Point, Clara Mattei joins us to explain how austerity has shaped capitalist societies for over a century. Listen now on The Player: bit.ly/45zUEU8 #Austerity #CrisisPoint #PoliticalEconomy

Prof Matthew Watson joins @sperishefuni.bsky.social's podcast to ask: was the Long Depression truly a crisis? From falling profits to class conflict, this period changed how we think about capitalism. Listen now: bit.ly/3H4K4Lw #EconomicHistory #PoliticalEconomy #ThePlayerSheffield

"In the short term, the basic arithmetic of bond markets has deteriorated; more supply coupled with a reduction in both reliable and speculative demand. And that means higher bond yields look probable, forcing governments to pay more to fund their ever-growing deficits." www.ft.com/content/2209...

What caused the 2008 financial crash? Why does it still matter today? Dr Scott Lavery joins SPERI in Crisis Point to talk about how the crisis reshaped politics, the economy, and our everyday lives - and what might come next. 🎧 Listen here: bit.ly/3UiPw0a

What can the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis tell us about capitalism and global crashes? Jomo Kwame Sundaram speaks to Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley about the role of the IMF, how it hit Asia, and how it connects to 2008. Listen now on The Player: bit.ly/3TACefp

We wrote about the US ruling class taking the reins to manage its own decline. What do the Trumpist factions of capital want? Can that be squared with the interests of the MAGA base? Capable state managers could potentially thread the needle, but that's all gone. With @cedricdurand.bsky.social.

“the debt crisis creates constraints beyond any Caesarist ambition. Either Trump has to make decisions on tariffs that calm bond markets, or, he will have to rely on the Fed’s willingness to activate more QE”https://unherd.com/2025/05/trumps-new-world-disorder/

“Thatcher didn’t plan to financialise the British economy; nor did she think she could survive unemployment of more than 10 per cent... By 1990, she’d shown you could do all these things and still win elections. This was the Thatcher transformation.” www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

💭NEW BLOG💭 Chris Saltmarsh and Dillon Wamsley develop Seven Theses on Crisis in capitalism, illuminated by their discussions with experts in their recent 12-part podcast series 📝Read the blog: shorturl.at/sfKqO 🎧Listen to the series: shorturl.at/wxXZJ

On 3 April 2025, SPERI hosted a workshop on the British Political Economy Tradition to examine its character, insights and contributions, and celebrate the life's work of Professor Andrew Gamble who recently retired More here: shorturl.at/X9qrX

The journal I help edit, Critical Sociology, is running a special issue on Antonio Gramsci’s notion of the “passive revolution.” Here is one of the articles by @grundrza.bsky.social and Paret that considers absorption as a bottom up process. Check it out online first.

Last episode of Crisis Point is out now. We wrap up the series offering a working theory of crisis and covering polycrisis, the novelty of 2008 and its aftermath, climate change, and what political economy can offer to make sense of the present. open.spotify.com/episode/3shV...

Yield on 10y Treasuries back above 4.5%. We're not sure who's selling but we know who the holders are. I wrote a short post with some hopefully helpful dataviz based on TIC and financial accounts. Key points: 1. Foreign holdings as % of total: declining since 2008. benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...

Episode #11 of Crisis Point with Jeremy Green (@jbrgreen.bsky.social) is out now. What is the relationship between climate change, capitalism, and modernity? How does it force us to rethink our understanding of crisis?

"Whatever the plan may have been, its extent and its timing were ultimately determined by the movement of capital." on.ft.com/4lp51QD

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ Does the rise of right-wing populism represent a crisis of democracy in the West? What does this have to do with the 2008 crisis? Michael Bray joins Chris and Dillon to discuss democracy in the history of capitalism and populism. Listen now: shorturl.at/syXzE

Episode #10 of Crisis Point on populism, capitalism, and democracy with Michael Bray is out now: open.spotify.com/episode/20TJ...

My newest scholarly article on Doug Ford, neoliberalism, (anti)majoritarianism, and the use of inherited institutional and constitutional frameworks to insulate austerity from critique. ojs.unbc.ca/index.php/cp... #dougford #ontario #onpoli #ontariopolitics #neoliberalism

Episode #9 of Crisis Point on inflation, cost-of-living, and the bailout state with Martijn Konings (@mkonings.bsky.social) is out now. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/18o4...

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ Rising prices have dominated social and political life in recent years. High inflation has been called the cost-of-living crisis, but does this constitute a crisis of capitalism or the system working as normal? Martijn Konings discusses with Chris and Dillon shorturl.at/GWVk8

You don’t say: ‘It is unacceptable that public services and taxes are set not in the ballot box, but by unelected and barely accountable officials in a small office above the Ministry of Justice.’ www.ft.com/content/2433...

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ High rents, shortages and homelessness dominate the housing system. But does this represent a ‘housing crisis’ or capitalism functioning as it should? Johnna Montgomorie joins Chris & Dillon in Crisis Point, episode 8 shorturl.at/zlVZ0

What role can central banks play in addressing climate change today? In our just-published article, we argue that we are at a critical juncture in which the future is highly indeterminate. Written with @matpaterson.bsky.social + 14 other amazing scholars /1 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Rachel Reeves' Spring Statement seems to be a continuity of Treasury fiscal conservatism, guided by short-term economic projections rather than a long-term vision, argue @nathancritch.bsky.social, @drdarcyluke.bsky.social, David Richards and @samwarner.bsky.social. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ Clara Mattei joins Chris and Dillon for episode 7 of Crisis Point to discuss austerity Why has it dominated politics since 2008? What explains its endurance as a response to economic crisis? And how has it produced crises of its own? shorturl.at/pyE09

Check out our new article on the unique crisis shaping British politics 👇

Episode #7 of Crisis Point with Clara Mattei is out now. What role does austerity play in capitalist crisis? Where did it come from and why has it proved so resilient? Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0UKb...

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ Crisis Point, ep 5 Chris and Dillon interview Scott Lavery about the 2008 financial crisis. What caused the crash? How did neoliberalism survive, and is it finally on its way out? How does 2008 explain our turbulent politics since? shorturl.at/eWZ73

Crisis Point Episode #5 with Scott Lavery is out now. What were the causes and consequences of the 2008 crisis? Are we still living in its shadow? Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/3zNV...

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ In episode 4 of Crisis Point, Chris and Dillon interview economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram about the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. They discuss the importance of financialisation, the role of the IMF, and its relationship to 2008. shorturl.at/6IEXF

🎙️SPERI Presents...🎙️ CRISIS POINT, episode 3 Chris and Dillon interview SPERI’s own Colin Hay about the 1970s crisis of stagflation. Did unions really cause the crisis? Did Thatcher really solve it? What was the crisis’ role in the shift from social democracy to neoliberalism? shorturl.at/5EzA5

Episode #4 of Crisis Point out now. We look back at the 1997 Asian financial crisis with economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram and examine what it can tell us about capitalism, crisis, and the ascendence of finance. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/0Oj7...